A review by lolaslalaland
Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
5.0
Book 2 in the Shadow of the Fox trilogy.
Yumeko, a half-kitsune tasked with bringing a piece of the dragon scroll to a safe temple where no one can use its power is now also on the quest to saving Tatsumi, the demon hunter who has unfortunately succumbed to the demon in his sword, Hakaimono. Accompanied with her friends they embark on a terribly perilous quest, and my goodness does it get dangerous!
I absolutely loved this sequel and enjoyed it even more than the first book. The characters felt even more substantial to the story, Yumeko developed immensely in such a short amount of time, and it's no wonder why! Hakaimono is a terrible, horrible, bloody demon who I should hate, and I do! But why is he also funny! Fuck! Reika is basically your super cool and strong independent goth mommy-type who gags at affection and I love her. Okame is Chandler from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Daisuke is the most noble of noble who makes you want to be a better person.
And the relationships! Lemme tell you! I am not a big romance person. I tend to really dislike books that have romance because they take over the plot and become the main focus, but this book (trilogy) does not do that and I love it! We get adorable relationships and cute couple moments and then it goes right back to the fights and massacre and the fact that they are all on a very important mission. It's logical! "Yes, I love you. But right now not getting eaten by demons is more important that smooching!" <- this is just my exaggerated example and is in no way a spoiler, I promise.
And then we get to my favorite part! The plot! It's like watching an anime, but reading it, and it is glorious! I mean we have demons, we have shadow magic, walking in limbo to travel faster, katanas and Japanese lore, and the atmosphere plays into it too with temples and castles hidden in forests. When I read this book, I felt completely transported into a manga or anime and with the added Japanese words, if you are an anime fan, you will almost feel like you hear the tone of voice from anime shows.
It also get quite gruesome, there are a few moments that I could see more sensitive readers struggling with. It can get quite graphic with the chopping off heads... And not exclusively human heads.
I am excited for the next book now, but I wanted to quickly write a review with all my thoughts nice and fresh, because that ending was amazing and I need to see this through to the end!
Yumeko, a half-kitsune tasked with bringing a piece of the dragon scroll to a safe temple where no one can use its power is now also on the quest to saving Tatsumi, the demon hunter who has unfortunately succumbed to the demon in his sword, Hakaimono. Accompanied with her friends they embark on a terribly perilous quest, and my goodness does it get dangerous!
I absolutely loved this sequel and enjoyed it even more than the first book. The characters felt even more substantial to the story, Yumeko developed immensely in such a short amount of time, and it's no wonder why! Hakaimono is a terrible, horrible, bloody demon who I should hate, and I do! But why is he also funny! Fuck! Reika is basically your super cool and strong independent goth mommy-type who gags at affection and I love her. Okame is Chandler from F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Daisuke is the most noble of noble who makes you want to be a better person.
And the relationships! Lemme tell you! I am not a big romance person. I tend to really dislike books that have romance because they take over the plot and become the main focus, but this book (trilogy) does not do that and I love it! We get adorable relationships and cute couple moments and then it goes right back to the fights and massacre and the fact that they are all on a very important mission. It's logical! "Yes, I love you. But right now not getting eaten by demons is more important that smooching!" <- this is just my exaggerated example and is in no way a spoiler, I promise.
And then we get to my favorite part! The plot! It's like watching an anime, but reading it, and it is glorious! I mean we have demons, we have shadow magic, walking in limbo to travel faster, katanas and Japanese lore, and the atmosphere plays into it too with temples and castles hidden in forests. When I read this book, I felt completely transported into a manga or anime and with the added Japanese words, if you are an anime fan, you will almost feel like you hear the tone of voice from anime shows.
It also get quite gruesome, there are a few moments that I could see more sensitive readers struggling with. It can get quite graphic with the chopping off heads... And not exclusively human heads.
I am excited for the next book now, but I wanted to quickly write a review with all my thoughts nice and fresh, because that ending was amazing and I need to see this through to the end!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Minor: Animal death